Leadership rift likely to damage PDI performance

SEMARANG (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) will suffer in next year's general election if the party's leadership conflict gets any worse, political observers predict.

Soehardjo and Susilo Utomo of Diponegoro University said Wednesday that the PDI's showing will be affected because its most popular figure, Megawati Soekarnoputri, has been scrapped from the list of candidates for the House of Representatives.

Megawati was ousted by Soerjadi in a rebel government- sanctioned congress in the North Sumatra capital of Medan in June. She does not recognize his leadership and has sued him for holding the congress and the government for backing it.

The Central Jakarta District Court, which is hearing the case, has unsuccessfully suggested an out-of-court settlement.

Soerjadi, who chaired the PDI until he was replaced by Megawati in 1993, was the one who recruited Megawati for the PDI in the 1980s.

She is still a House member, representing the PDI until 1997. Soerjadi has made it clear that he will not nominate a party member who rejects his leadership.

Soehardjo said the PDI should use Megawati's popularity to attract voters instead of dropping her name from the list of candidates simply because she refuses to recognize the Medan congress.

"If Soerjadi does exclude her, the PDI will remain the smallest among the three political parties with even fewer seats in the House than it has now," Soehardjo said.

Currently, the PDI has 56 seats in the House while Golkar has 282 and the United Development Party holds 62.

Soehardjo predicted that if Soerjadi and Megawati, the eldest daughter of late president Sukarno, fail to make peace, the PDI's number of seats will drop at least 30 percent next year.

"Now that Megawati has been dethroned and PDI under Soerjadi coopted by the government, many PDI sympathizers may be frustrated and turn their back on the party," he said.

Susilo Utomo said that Soerjadi's move to oust Megawati was unpopular and that the party under his leadership has lost the public's sympathy.

The better educated can see that unlike Megawati, Soerjadi was not elected by popular vote. The party's current leadership cannot preach democracy, he said.

The PDI, a 1973 merger of nationalist and tiny Christian parties, is the most outspoken of the three sanctioned political organizations and is popular among younger voters who want to see political reform.

Susilo said that educated party members who sympathize with Megawati might boycott the election or vote for one of the other two parties in next year's election.

"What is certain to me is that the rift within the PDI will boost Golkar's showing next year. Golkar's leaders have been actively campaigning," he said. (har/pan)